Johanna Wagner holds an IMHI degree (MBA in Hospitality Management – ESSEC) and began her career in finance and analysis at Four Seasons and Covivio.

In 2019, after four years in hotel investment, Johanna left her position to pursue her ambition: to put her expertise at the service of meaningful projects. Johanna is dedicated to building connections between people, professions, disciplines, and sectors to drive positive change toward responsible, sustainable behaviours and decisions. Her work focuses on two sectors with systemic impact: higher education and finance.

An impact entrepreneur, social nomad, and multi-hat professional, she develops services and solutions through her companies and associations, drawing on field exchanges, reading and podcasts, and attending the many conferences she attends.

E.S.B.: What is your background, and what made you interested in CSR?

I started working in hospitality when I was 16, and I quickly noticed that the travel and hospitality sector had significant potential to create social and environmental value in local areas. Of course, I also quickly understood that real intent was needed to share this value fairly and not come at the expense of quality of life, natural spaces, and resources.

In 2019, after four years in Covivio’s hotels team (including two years of personal lifestyle changes), this desire to work “with purpose” came back strongly. I left without a precise plan, convinced I could always return to a “classic” position, but it was time to try something different.

E.S.B.: How does CSR take shape in your life?

Since 2020, I have developed courses for hospitality management schools and the ESSEC MSc in Hospitality Management, co-founded two companies—Join EDuC (2020, with Carina Hopper, GMBA 2018) and Agence HoPe (2024)—and an association, Back to School for the Planet (2021, also with Carina). CSR is at the heart of these projects, my non-profit commitments (Campus de la Transition, Bon pour le Climat…), and my talks and publications. I work to adapt it for higher education (through Join EDuC), for hospitality and tourism (through Agence HoPe), and for the general public (through Back to School for the Planet and the game SustyGrab).

E.S.B.: How do you define CSR?

I’ll reuse the word I suggested for my contribution to the collective work Les 101 Mots de la RSE à l’usage de tous (“101 Words on CSR for Everyone”): Dance.

CSR may seem complicated or a bit intimidating because it steps outside the familiar, well-defined frame of financial performance. Still, it’s like dancing: once you get into it, you start to enjoy it and realise you can add your style, that it’s okay to make mistakes, and above all, that it’s fertile ground for expressing your sensitivities, standing out, and thriving—both as an organisation and as an individual.

For me, CSR is the natural evolution beyond a company's “primary” stage—the stage that moves towards beauty and improvement.

E.S.B.: How can it be a business catalyst, and what ROI does it bring?

If I take the example of hospitality, both short- and long-term ROIs are there. From a human perspective, first, it’s unifying and motivating in a sector that struggles to attract and retain talent. Unfortunately, these ROIs are often not identified or communicated as such. For instance, we’ve been saving money for years thanks to practices like not systematically replacing towels in guest rooms, installing water-saving devices, or using motion sensors. But we’ve stopped tracking these savings, so they’re no longer factored into the economic balance when discussing CSR today.

At the same time, when preparing multi-year financial projections (business plans), we identify all the additional investments linked to obtaining a building certification. Still, we struggle to capture that investment's financial and extra-financial value in the P&L or the exit value. This is one of the topics I address with my students and clients, because having “visibility” on ROI at different levels, over various time frames, and for other stakeholders is still rare—yet it has real benefits for making better-informed decisions.

E.S.B.: What would you like to say to ESSEC Alumni Club members and others?

I’d like to invite them to dance 🙂

More seriously, I want to remind them that we are fortunate to be graduates of a top school—and with that privilege comes a responsibility worth rising to, by helping, supporting, and encouraging one another.

There’s a lot of talk about the strength of the Alumni network, and I believe that in the CSR field, it’s clear we can have a significant positive impact… provided we all get involved with our best intentions and unique sensitivities.